The flexible packaging session was chaired by John Paine of C-P
Flexible Packaging and Tom Jacques of Bobst North America Inc. Five
speakers presented four topics: Ram Singhal of Flexible Packaging As-
sociation, Veronika Lovell of Sun Chemical Corp., David Recchia of
MacDermid Printing Solutions, Marek Skrzynski of CSW and Grant
Shouldice of Flint Group. “Good overview, good technical info and
good comments on trends,” said 3M’s Jerry Vogler. “Bring him back!”
demanded one attendee, referring to Shouldice.
The tags and labels session was chaired by Kim Madigan of Smyth
Companies and Kevin Schilling of The Outlook Group. Its first
presentation was given by Scott Schultz of Eckart America Corp. and
Alex James of Harper Corporation of America and its second by Alix
Guyot of Anderson & Vreeland. Attendees appreciated the diverse
mix of charts, 3-D illustrations and depth of information provided.
“Very nicely presented,” noted Eckart’s Robert Hulston.
Wrapping up Forum 2014 was an update session dedicated to FIRST
(Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances). Forum
2015 Co Chair Jennye Scott of Berry Plastics Corp. chaired the closing
session. Joe Tuccitto of FTA, Mike McGinnis of RR Donnelley, Eric
Ferguson of MacDermid Printing Solutions, Rich Emmerling of Flint
Group, Steve Smiley of SmileyColor & Associates and Dr. Danny Rich
of Sun Chemical Corp. all spoke to changes in upcoming editions of
FIRST and ISO Standards. “How it all fits together is excellent,” com-
mented Larry Leto of North American Color.
A BANQUET FOR THE BEST
As it has in years past, the first day of Forum concluded with FTA’s
Annual Banquet & Awards Program. With FTA President Mark Cis-
ternino emceeing the event, many of the most coveted awards in the
flexographic industry were handed out.
Perhaps the most anticipated, the six Best of Show and 100 award
winners in the 2014 Excellence in Flexography competition were
unveiled. BOS honorees took the stage to claim their trophies and all
winners were displayed at INFO*FLEX.
J. Page Crouch shook the hands of those who came before him and
was welcomed as the 52nd member of the FTA Hall of Fame. Two in-
dividuals—Robb Frimming of Schawk!’s and Paul Teachout, formerly
of Harper Corporation of America—were give the FTA President’s
Award. Technical Innovation Awards went to Esko, for its Equinox
software, and APR and SpotOn! Press’ collaboration, SpotOn! Flexo.
Master Packaging, Inc. took the TEST Educational Leadership Award.
FTA’s environmentally conscious honor, renamed the Sustainability
Excellence Award, went to Accredo Packaging and Avery Dennison.
PHOENIX CHALLENGE COLLEGE COMPETITION
The 2014 Phoenix Challenge College Competition brought together 50 students and a dozen
mentors from 10 schools. As it does every year, the Competition issued a challenge for teams
to solve. This year’s dilemma: “Working with a charity, nonprofit or company, help it rebrand,
promote, label or package. Produce a minimum of two and a maximum of three flexographi-
cally printed products. At least one product must include a scannable QR code.”
Other criteria included:
• No process color printing; spot color only
• Four print station limit per item. This does not include any inline or offline postprint
treatments to enhance end use functionality
• Functional treatments may be done in house or externally
• Lamination is not considered a print station
• Hand finishing is permitted to reduce cost of creating product samples
On Saturday, April 26, judges examined the teams’ entries and declared the winners. They are:
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA – Overall First Place Winner
» Students: Lena Haidar, Natalee Consulo, Mariah Linnett, Giulianna Riso and Mishay
Murfield
» Mentor: Colleen Twomey
• University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO– Winner in Concept, Research,
Graphic, Execution categories
» Students: Andrew Kniest, Kieu Duyen Tran, Meghan Hestand, Caitlin Stauffer, Stacy
Vasyuta, Jordan Surber
» Mentor: Mark Rankin
Also competing were teams from Appalachian State University, Clemson University, Waukesha County Technical College, Illinois State
University, Ryerson University, Central Piedmont Community College, Eastern Kentucky University and Millersville University.
JUNE 2014 | FLEXO 29